Not long ago, when the source of disaster appeared within the Falling Star Great Domain, Iluo Xi, Xing Jinglei, and others stationed at the Burning Fire Oasis immediately sensed it.
They were not only demigods but also possessed entry-level or skilled attainments in certain laws.
Within moments, they pinpointed the exact coordinates of the disaster source.
Iluo Xi volunteered to go and eliminate this source of calamity.
It was simply because she was too bored, and her mentor did not allow her to casually squander her power by dealing with attacking strange evils like using a cannon to swat a mosquito.
This was still the early stage of the disaster tide.
Hmph, she knew that very well!
But by eliminating the source of disaster, she could squander a little more power.
Once the location of the disaster source was locked, Iluo Xi soared into the sky, transforming into a stream of flame and hurtling away.
Then,
She missed.
She had only flown halfway when she saw the shadow of a colossal snake, stretching across the heavens and earth, appear in the distance.
"Are there other demigods in the Falling Star Great Domain?"
Of course, that was not important. She, Demigod Iluo Xi, had seen plenty of demigods. What was important was that her prey had been snatched away.
Sister cannot stand it.jpg!
Yet, even if she couldn't stand it, Iluo Xi could not perform spatial displacement, nor could she easily traverse high-level void jumps. She could only watch helplessly as the giant snake's shadow annihilated the source of disaster with overwhelming force.
Boraizemon and several other Falling Star myths were celebrating.
Iluo Xi clenched her little fists.
The joys and sorrows of people are not mutually understandable; she only felt depressed.
"If only I had flown faster, that big snake wouldn't have had a chance!"
She admitted that she had flown a bit too leisurely, and it was because the distance was too great that the great snake demigod had gotten there first.
She was somewhat discerning and knew that this demigod was on the same side as her, so she had nowhere to vent her pent-up frustration.
At this moment, the laws of heaven and earth became chaotic again.
Filth accumulated, and under some opportune moment, another source of disaster was born, influenced by the evil god 'Scarlet Moon'.
Iluo Xi, instead of being surprised, was delighted.
Her entire body ignited, a literal burning.
The searing flames quickly spread outwards, instantly constructing a colossal demigod manifestation that spanned heaven and earth.
—The Phoenix Manifestation!
Her demigod manifestation was a rare non-humanoid form, radiating divine light and carrying rolling red clouds across the sky.
The entrance effect was full-on.
This was also a characteristic of Iluo Xi's manifestation—all skills were invested in special effects.
Constructing a manifestation was a profound art.
When humans ascended to the demigod realm, they naturally understood how to construct a manifestation; it was instinctual. However, to construct a manifestation with a superior structure, stronger defense, and more functions, demigods needed to study deeply.
Conveniently, the Hearth Organization was not short of 'secret manuals' related to manifestation construction.
Most of these manuals originated from the Kandela Empire.
Unfortunately, as a conceptual academic failure, Iluo Xi's learning ability for all book knowledge was negative, especially in mathematics.
If she didn't know, she didn't know.
And how to construct an excellent manifestation was closely related to mathematics and geometry.
However, as long as a demigod fully constructed and perfected their manifestation, their foundation would be flawless. The enhancement functions of the manifestation derived from this foundation were, to some extent, not that important—if one could quickly advance to the high-level, using the demigod realm as a transitional stage.
The current Hearth Organization's core powerhouses regarded the demigod realm as a transitional phase.
Being able to create powerful, super-standard manifestations was certainly good, but if not, there was no need to be discouraged, nor to spend too much energy on it.
With that time, Mentor Fang suggested they observe the Law Stele more.
Iluo Xi's demigod manifestation was constructed in this context. This child's thought process was indeed unusual; despite being a poor student, she managed to find an unconventional path to construct a very stable non-humanoid manifestation and manipulate it with ease.
Her manifestation's power level was rather ordinary, but as soon as it appeared, it seemed to stir the celestial phenomena.
The darkness of the sky completely dissipated.
Red dawn clouds, centered around the Phoenix Manifestation, rapidly spread outwards, as if igniting the entire world and temporarily obscuring the blood moon hanging high in the sky.
Such a scene of rolling red clouds could even be faintly seen from half the great domain away.
Far away in Falling Star City, the three myths had become dumbfounded repeating chickens, only capable of exclaiming "What the heck!"
The previous giant snake demigod manifestation had led them to speculate about its identity.
Lady of Ten Thousand Snakes was likely a divine descendant!
An ancient being who had lived for a long time and, out of boredom, established the Myriad Serpent Association in this nascent great domain, the Falling Star Cave.
The Myriad Serpent Association was not the only one.
Similar oases and organizations founded by ancient beings were numerous in various realms of the strange world.
However, most of these forces were merely pawns casually placed by ancient beings and would be forgotten over time.
Boraizemon had not expected that Lady of Ten Thousand Snakes, this divine descendant, was a demigod—even if divine descendants were only in the myth stage, their lifespan far exceeded a thousand years, but in return, their advancement was slower than humans.
Boraizemon had not expected that Lady of Ten Thousand Snakes, at the demigod stage, was residing in the Falling Star Great Domain.
Then, who was this Phoenix demigod?
Was it... or was it...
He had a vague guess, yet it seemed too absurd to believe.
Their Falling Star City was indeed the fake former overlord of the great domain!
...
Riding her demigod manifestation, traveling at full speed in an extremely extravagant manner, Iluo Xi soon arrived at the location of the disaster source.
A giant, continuously beating heart.
Around it, colossal behemoths that could eclipse the sun roamed, like guards escorting a king.
...The disaster source would invariably attract high-level strange evils that would reside around it.
Even an academic failure like Iluo Xi knew this common sense.
She scanned her surroundings, detecting a total of thirteen seven-star strange evils. She was not annoyed at all and even felt a sense of joy.
"That annoying giant snake demigod hasn't arrived yet, this is truly excellent."
"Hmm, I... this Empress must hurry."
The arrival of the colossal fiery phoenix had already caused the surrounding strange evils to become agitated.
They launched attacks one after another.
Countless dark energies poured down like a torrential rain.
Quantitative change can lead to qualitative change.
Mythical beings might not fear a tide of strange evils, but if they ventured deep into it, they would also have to proceed with caution to avoid an unexpected reversal.
Iluo Xi did not need to.
The demigod manifestation hovered in the air, neither dodging nor evading, allowing all sorts of attacks to fall upon it. Its outer shell remained unstirred.
This was the most powerful means of a demigod!
It might not be useful when challenging opponents of a higher realm, but when crushing weaker foes, a demigod manifestation could decimate them.
They could kill them with their eyes closed.
"Burn to ashes~"
Within the manifestation, Iluo Xi, like a mecha pilot, raised her right hand, partially shielding her eyes, and with a cool and defiant stance, she suddenly waved her hand outwards.
Endless celestial fire poured down from beneath the fiery phoenix's wings.
In an instant, the flames spread, possessing an inextinguishable characteristic.
Low-level strange evils were instantly incinerated, turning to ash.
Mid-to-high-level strange evils struggled for half a second before meeting the same fate.
The thirteen strongest seven-star strange evils roared and struggled, but the flames continued to climb their bodies, burning ever fiercer.
This was partly due to the special nature of Iluo Xi's flame.
—She used herself as a furnace, continuously fusing special flames, and had long refined her innate true fire that could incinerate everything.
It was also due to Iluo Xi's profound laws that had already been imbued.
—She was indeed a poor student who couldn't bear to sit still for more than a few minutes in front of books, but when she sat before the Law Stele, Iluo Xi could rarely calm down.
To be precise, it wasn't that she was calm; she directly entered a state of immersive enlightenment, thus not perceiving the passage of time.
She did not have many flashy skills.
She only had fire.
"Burn everything, ho ho ho ho—"
The thirteen seven-star strange evils were soon also incinerated by Iluo Xi's inextinguishable true fire.
She then turned her gaze to the mission objective, the disaster source that was continuously radiating filth.
She reached out and pointed into the distance.
"Ultimate Flame Dragon's Extinction~"
Thousands of flame dragons were born in an instant, then tore through the gray mist and space, diving down.
Rumble—
One blow caused the continent to sink, destroying everything within a radius of several hundred miles.
However, the giant bloody heart still existed.
This terrifying blow only left several gaping fiery wounds on the disaster source.
Although Iluo Xi's law attainment was not low, it was far from enough to destroy the disaster source with a single blow.
It would take at least a dozen strikes.
"Tch!"
"Another dozen strikes is just a wave of the hand."
However, before departing, her mentor had admonished her like a fussy mother not to waste her strength carelessly, as the duration of the disaster was still unclear.
She thought it made sense.
Don't misunderstand, she only thought that if her strength was exhausted, she wouldn't be able to continue displaying the demeanor of Empress Iluo Xi. It wasn't that she feared her mentor or wanted to protect the oasis, or anything like that.
Hmph~
Iluo Xi took out a large spear with a pure white shaft and a striking blood-red tip and fiercely hurled it at the distant bloody heart.
As if puncturing a bubble.
Under the Spear of Path Breaking, the disaster source shattered with a 'pop'.
Iluo Xi cocked her head. After a moment, she realized there seemed to be no audience around. Even if there were, they couldn't see her inside her demigod manifestation.
She snorted in boredom and turned to fly away.
...
Lady of Ten Thousand Snakes also turned and flew away.
"The blood moon has disappeared."
"The sources of disaster have finally all been eradicated."
"However, isn't the Falling Star Cave the outermost great domain? How can there be a demigod stationed in this remote countryside?"
"Damn it, if I had known there was a demigod here, I wouldn't have had to go through the trouble of acting myself."
Upon spotting that Fiery Phoenix manifestation, she had already turned back.
Who wanted to deal with the source of disaster so miserably?
She had come to the countryside great domain like the Falling Star Cave just to save trouble, only to find that a major disaster had occurred even in this remote place.
Now that another demigod was stationed to handle it, she was surprised and then overjoyed.
She was too lazy to investigate the identity of this demigod, too lazy to care if the other party seemed stronger than her.
She just wanted to lie down and rest.
However,
She had already made a move and revealed her demigod form. This absolutely couldn't be hidden from the other demigod in this region.
At other times, revealing her demigod form might not have been that conspicuous, but with the disaster tide arriving and sources of disaster being born, the myths and demigods of this domain would undoubtedly be monitoring all directions at all times, and the slightest disturbance would attract their attention.
She didn't care about the other demigod, but that didn't mean the local demigods wouldn't care about her sudden appearance.
She knew human nature best!
She was afraid she wouldn't have a peaceful life anymore!
"Fine, I'll live one day at a time. If it's too annoying, I'll just run to another great domain."
She summoned a palace-like ominous artifact, set the route, and flew back to the Myriad Serpent Association Oasis leisurely and contentedly, with the entire journey automated.
...
The second disaster tide, brought about by the signs of the evil god's awakening, had already spread throughout the entire strange world. Oases in various regions began their grand city-defending wars.
Undoubtedly, this tide was intense, with seven-star strange evils appearing everywhere.
Super Oases located in the more inner circles had already encountered attacks from eight-star strange evils.
However, it seemed that was all.
Human forces in various domains were well-prepared. Relying on various strategic weapons and the power of their strong individuals, they repelled the fierce attacks of the strange evil tide time and again.
"Is this it? Is this all?"
"It's not that the disaster tide is too weak, it's that we humans have become stronger and are well-prepared."
Many awakened individuals said so.
However, the truly strong did not let their guard down.
They knew one thing clearly—the true threat of a disaster tide was never the disaster and strange evils themselves, but the servants of the evil god!
And currently, the evil god's servants had not yet appeared in large numbers.
As expected, time passed. One day, two days, three days... The disaster tide showed no signs of receding; instead, it grew more intense.
This disaster was likely to last longer than imagined!
They had to prepare for a protracted war.
Myths and demigods in various domains immediately adjusted their strategies. In places like the Yunhui Great Domain, where overlords gathered, they had already used great power to monitor the entire domain.
Soon, they discovered that the disaster had changed.
"It's a nine-star strange evil!"
"Nine-star strange evils are emerging from the intermediate domains. They seem to have very specific targets."
"...It's our Level Nine Oases!"
"As expected, the disaster tide is not that simple."
...
Myriad Serpent Association Oasis.
Since returning from eradicating the source of disaster, Lady of Ten Thousand Snakes had begun her life of lounging around.
Lounging around during a disaster was not easy, so she took every opportunity she could.
Especially since she had already exposed her demigod identity.
"Human forces with a demigod in charge will surely come knocking, asking this Empress to help them fight the disaster."
"But..."
Fighting was too tiring, and she, Lady of Ten Thousand Snakes, would not do it.
However, with disasters rampant throughout the strange world, finding a stable foothold was not easy. The forces she had casually created, like the Myriad Serpent Association, had mostly been annihilated over the past few hundred to a thousand years, leaving only a few surviving ones.
There weren't many places she could go.
She could survive alone, of course, but she would inevitably have to deal with those troublesome strange evils, and it wouldn't be as comfortable as lying here being served by maidservants.
After much deliberation, there was indeed no better place to retire than the Falling Star Cave.
After all, there was a demigod stationed here, so she wouldn't have to act herself during major disasters.
"If they come looking for me, and ask me to help deal with some tricky strange evils... well, if the request isn't too excessive, this Empress isn't completely unwilling to agree."
"This Empress can act once every three days... or maybe once every two days, that's not impossible."
"Any less than that is truly unacceptable."
Lady of Ten Thousand Snakes rolled over and muttered to herself.
She worried that humans would be too greedy.
She mentally rehearsed various possibilities.
One day passed, and no myths came to call.
Two days passed, and everything outside the Myriad Serpent Association Oasis was normal.
Three days passed, and the Fiery Phoenix demigod acted again, yet she didn't even spare a glance at her.
Lady of Ten Thousand Snakes: "???"
She was also a demigod. Did she have so little status, so little presence?
Although she wished she wouldn't be disturbed, seeing the local demigod act so indifferent, completely ignoring her, made Lady of Ten Thousand Snakes feel unhappy.
Damn it~!
If that's the case... then this Empress will lounge around even more with a clear conscience!
After a moment of internal struggle, Lady of Ten Thousand Snakes continued to lie down, but the next moment, she suddenly leaped up as if stimulated by an electric shock.
A strong premonition of misfortune suddenly arose in her heart.
Lady of Ten Thousand Snakes hesitated for a moment, then took out an ominous artifact shaped like a mirror.
The mirror's surface rippled, and within it, a terrifying, indescribable shadow appeared.
A colossal shadow, enshrouded in laws, misfortune, and disaster.
It slowly stepped out from the intermediate domain, heading into the domain.
"Damn it, why!"
"The Falling Star Cave is clearly an outer great domain, does it have to be like this!"
Lady of Ten Thousand Snakes, who had just been preparing to lounge around with a clear conscience, exploded.